Too Hot to Fly... :(

Av8rshane · Jun 30, 2018

Nightowl702 said:
I was flying mine at night about 3 weeks ago and after I landed i just for the **** of it I decided to check the batt temp. 156f degrees!! At night! Here in Vegas when the temps get up at McCarran the planes land and take off from runway 7 instead of the usual 25. It has a slight downgrade. After dark they usually turn the airport back around and resume normal runway 25 ops

It’s runway 8 now, they use it because terrain is lower going that way, s
Ightly downhill.

CAG · Jun 30, 2018

It is hot here but in 47 years of living in Phoenix, flying around the state and flying RC including now drones I have seen an airport shut down ONCE. That was Skyharbor when temps his 122 and at the time there were no charts that gave density altitude calculations at that temp. I just returned from the White Mountains of eastern Arizona and was flying the MA but here, right now, it is harder on me standing in 110 degrees with the sun beating on my head than the MA, so neither of us go out in the noon day sun.

skiptv · Jun 30, 2018

Its actually to hot to fly when the temps get over 85 degrees. Over heats the motors, the camera, and the on-board computer. Additionally having a iPhone or Tablet outside in plus 85 degree temps will cause them to over heat and shut down, Once an electronic component overheats and is forced to shut down, its pretty much ruined, and will never operate at 100% again.

sar104 · Jun 30, 2018

skiptv said:
Its actually to hot to fly when the temps get over 85 degrees. Over heats the motors, the camera, and the on-board computer. Additionally having a iPhone or Tablet outside in plus 85 degree temps will cause them to over heat and shut down, Once an electronic component overheats and is forced to shut down, its pretty much ruined, and will never operate at 100% again.

85°F is overly conservative - these aircraft will fly just fine at those temperatures. For tablets and phones, exposure to direct sun has more influence than actual air temperature. They will also work just fine at ambient temperatures above 85°F, but can overheat and shut down at much lower temperatures if left unshaded. However, they all have thermal protection that shuts them down well before any damage is done.

Former Member · Jun 30, 2018

skiptv said:
Its actually to hot to fly when the temps get over 85 degrees. Over heats the motors, the camera, and the on-board computer. Additionally having a iPhone or Tablet outside in plus 85 degree temps will cause them to over heat and shut down, Once an electronic component overheats and is forced to shut down, its pretty much ruined, and will never operate at 100% again.

Actually the normal operating temperature of the motors are around 120ﾟ and the other components run a little lower temperature than that.

CAG · Jun 30, 2018

In the last pages of your users manual is a list of parameters. Operating temps run 32-100+ (I forget the actual max temp) max although I am not going to stand out in either extreme to fly.

Cheech Wizard · Jun 30, 2018

jaysrmc said:
Temps are near 110 now in Phoenix.. After a 10 min flight my MP was too hot to even pick up with bare hands. Had to use motorcycle gloves.

Kinda sucks but expected this. Last year I remember that during July, August and early September I had to fly early morning or after 6pm.. Now I miss the winters.. I guess it is a good excuse to head up north for a day, maybe I will hit the Indian Reservation side of the Grand Canyon. I called and they said I could fly from their land as long as I check in with them first and not disturb the wild life meaning, flying close to them or chasing them. They were actually really cool about it and requested a copy of any video I take. There is a lot of small plane and Helicopter activity there but if I stay low and fly safe I should be fine.

You are a drone ambassador, Treat people well and they treat you well. Nice job.

neggy · Jun 30, 2018

the term I have not seen used here is Density Altitude, and although it is normally used when dealing with engine powered aircraft, you can't ignore that not only are the electronics and batteries going to be hotter than they want to be, and can fail due to heat, the ability of the props to produce lift is also compromised.

Heat and electronics do not play nice together. Is that shot worth the loss of the aircraft?

Just last year there was a day when 50 flights out of PHX were cancelled due to temperatures approaching the aircrafts operating limitations...

Former Member · Jun 30, 2018

neggy said:
the term I have not seen used here is Density Altitude, and although it is normally used when dealing with engine powered aircraft, you can't ignore that not only are the electronics and batteries going to be hotter than they want to be, and can fail due to heat, the ability of the props to produce lift is also compromised.

Heat and electronics do not play nice together. Is that shot worth the loss of the aircraft?

Just last year there was a day when 50 flights out of PHX were cancelled due to temperatures approaching the aircrafts operating limitations...

Thats what I was thinking of! What a day.

Nightowl702 · Jun 30, 2018

Av8rshane said:
It’s runway 8 now, they use it because terrain is lower going that way, s
Ightly downhill.

Yes it is runway 8/26 now. It was still 7/25 for the 7 years i was out there working so its just habit calling it that

BikerGeek · Jun 30, 2018

jaysrmc said:
Temps are near 110 now in Phoenix.. After a 10 min flight my MP was too hot to even pick up with bare hands. Had to use motorcycle gloves.

Kinda sucks but expected this. Last year I remember that during July, August and early September I had to fly early morning or after 6pm.. Now I miss the winters.. I guess it is a good excuse to head up north for a day, maybe I will hit the Indian Reservation side of the Grand Canyon. I called and they said I could fly from their land as long as I check in with them first and not disturb the wild life meaning, flying close to them or chasing them. They were actually really cool about it and requested a copy of any video I take. There is a lot of small plane and Helicopter activity there but if I stay low and fly safe I should be fine.

Yeah it is bad. I'm in Chandler. You ride? I've been thinking of heading up north and doing some shots.

CAG · Jul 1, 2018

Canceled flights were American and with Bombardier CRJ's just for info. No airports closed that I am aware of but the point of electronics and heat is certainly correct. Just being in the sun brings the temps up to or at air temp and then it goes up from there. My son-in-law was flying his MA while we were at a family function yesterday and did not observe issues with excessive temps in batteries or the drone itself. I did not see the high for yesterday but would guess around 105.